As far back as my brain can remember, I patiently wait every four years for the magical, exhilarating and largest sporting event on the planet: THE WORLD CUP! I was raised in a football, ah well since this is the States I will say soccer, family. As a family we ate, breathed, and drank soccer. Myself, siblings, father, and mother all have played, refereed, and coached soccer through the years. I can remember where I watched every World Cup Final game for the last 22 years or so! Perhaps my favorite memory, is driving home from Oregon to California and stopping in a furniture store with my Dad to watch Brazil and France duke it out in 1998. Anyway, I am not alone in this sheer excitement and anticipation, as most of the world, sans the majority of the US, will be glued to any television available to catch all the matches in this year’s cup. That is right, 2010 is a World Cup Year and I am counting down the days( I have even downloaded the World Cup Countdown App to be sure I keep on track)!

Ok so now you are probably wondering, why on Earth would Autonomie Project, a Fair Trade and Eco friendly Fashion company be discussing a sporting event? Well, not only am I a HUGE fan of the sport, but we recently were made aware of some interesting details. This year’s cup is hosted by South Africa and preparations for the tournament began long ago. Like many modern events, a focus on making the event carbon neutral was an early goal for South Africa. However, with a mass frenzy to build the infrastructure for the World Cup, there seems to be a bit of greenwashing going on.

It is true that South Africa has made serious efforts to keep the games Green, such as their carbon offset program, where they have planted over 800,000 trees in various cities. Many South African environmentalists aren’t quite buying it though. Bobby Peek of Friends of the Earth South Africa reiterated this point, “Once carbon is produced, claiming that offsetting is ‘neutralizing’ the carbon footprint is nothing more than ‘greenwash.'” We somewhat agree with this idea, however, planting trees is always a great improvement for a city. On top of carbon offsetting, South Africa has improved its public transportation for the event, making it easy and efficient to travel between stadiums.

When preparations first began, the country was toting itself as creating a Green World Cup. Environmentalists inside the country were frustrated when a new stadium was built, rather than using the old stadiums in Durban. Many were outraged that new construction materials were adding to the overall carbon footprint of the tournament. This definitely may be true, however construction on the new stadium is very eco-friendly. Not only did they re-use much of the concrete and other building materials from the demolished stadium, but the new stadium is also built with PTFE which provides natural light, has natural ventilation, energy efficient heat, and collects rainwater. Even though we agree that keeping the old stadium would in large be more eco-friendly, at least the new stadium was built with some re-used materials and with green architecture in mind.

Beyond the country of South Africa, this year’s “World Cup 2010 Kits,” created by Nike, are claiming to be the most Environmentally friendly kits ever. The jerseys to be worn by the most famous players such as Ronaldo, and by the average soccer fans at home, are made from recycled plastic bottles. They say that they used enough plastic bottles to line the whole coast of South Africa into the uniforms. A Nike spokesperson told GreenMyStyle.com the kits are sustainable in other ways, “We use a variety of environmentally preferred materials such as PET, organic cotton, ‘green’ rubber, and many of our inputs into our shoes are recycled materials from factory production.” This sounds all well and good, however, GreenMyStyle and others are questioning Nike’s credentials, as they haven’t always been the most ethical company in the past and do not provide transparency into where the materials actually come from or provide certification. Also, recycling is great but probably not the most sustainable method of production, as the process itself emits pollution. On another note, Nike has been the subject of labor rights issues, with sharp criticism from both the Fair Trade and Labor Rights movements.

Although, it seems serious steps are being made by the South African government and World Cup planners, as well as private industry to make the 2010 World Cup Green, there is still disappointment. It was reported that the 2010 World Cup has a carbon footprint 6 times larger than the 2006 World Cup, held in Germany. It should be noted the 2006 numbers did not include transportation and most qualifying teams are from Europe, cutting down the impact of distance traveling. It seems most environmentalists feel South Africa dropped the ball on making the event green and think bigger steps should have been made. However, there are a couple of great things that will come from this including more efficient public transportation, more green space, drawing attention to the environmental sector in the country, and encourage the next World Cup (held in Brazil) to go even more Green!

While knowing that the biggest way the World Cup could cut their carbon footprint is to lessen world travel, it sort of defeats the heart of the cup. Much like the Olympics, the World Cup is seen as a time for harmony and for the world to come together. There may come a time when the matches may need to be played in a more central location and possibly only the finals in distant lands. Whatever the future holds the environmentalist in me is happy to see some changes and is hoping for more, but the soccer lover in me is anxiously awaiting June 11th. In fact, as we speak my World Cup Countdown App says we have 7 days, 21 hours, 44 minutes, and 41, 40, 39, 38 seconds…

Last weekend, you undoubtedly caught at least a glimpse of the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Summer Olympics. Just as in the past, the media hoopla and never-ending commercials featuring our favorite USA athletes make sure the event is seared in your brain and your television is tuned into the 24/7 coverage.

Unlike past Olympics, though, this year’s games have arrived in tow with a worldwide protest against the widely-known and wide-spread human rights abuses, aggression with Tibet, and environmental hazards that China is notorious for.

As the Olympic torch, traditionally known as a symbol of peace and international unity, made it’s way around the globe last spring, thousands of protesters hit the streets in Paris, London and San Francisco (among other cities) aiming to raise awareness amongst the mainstream media about these pressing issues, in particular China’s take-over and occupation of Tibet and their role in the Darfur conflict. To refresh your memory, check out our past blog post on the topic.

Shortly after that, the Play Fair campaign issued a press release announcing the findings of a new investigative report shaming Olympic sponsors and suppliers Nike and Adidas. Based on over 300 interviews with garment workers in China, India, Thailand and Indonesia, the report (titled Clearing the Hurdles) shows that violations of workers rights, excessive overtime hours, and poverty wages are still the norm of the sportswear industry. “While the profits of major brands like Nike and Adidas are soaring through the roof, the workers sewing their garments continue to make poverty wages and work under indecent conditions,” says Liana Foxvog, the national organizer of SweatFree Communities, one of the organizations that is supporting the Play Fair 2008 campaign. “Behind the rhetoric of corporate responsibility, very little has changed.”

According to the International Olympic Committee (or IOC), the Beijing Olympic Games are set to be the most profitable in the games’ history, with almost $100 million dollars alone coming from the garment sponsors. And yet the workers at the bottom of the chain are still being squeezed. A worker at a New Balance factory in Dongguan, China explained to the report interviewers: “I am exhausted to death now…none of us have time to go to toilet or drink water…we are working without rest and are always afraid of not working fast enough to supply soles to the next production line.”

The Play Fair Campaign has put together a “campaign statement” which outlines steps that sportswear companies, the International Olympic Committee, and national governments should and can take to follow up on their responsibilities to improve conditions for the working people of China. You can help out by sending a protest letter to the IOC and the guilty sportswear companies and continue to shop with companies legitimately working in the realm of Fair Trade. After all, what’s more in the spirit of the Olympics than encouraging and engaging its hosts to clean up their act and truly play a fair game.